Using funds from Australia's Federal Government's Safer Cities project, Moreton Bay Regional Council has contracted with Link Security Group to deploy wireless IP video surveillance network in Australia, with 130 square kilometers of mesh coverage. Moreton Bay Regional Council is the third largest local government in Australia, with an estimated population of 370,000. The system integrates wireless infrastructure mesh from Firetide, network cameras from Axis Communications and VMS from Milestone Systems.

Link Security was selected based on their proposed solution's ability to overcome challenges in the design and deployment of the surveillance network. Chief among those were designing a wireless high-bandwidth video solution that would not be affected by weather conditions, rust, corrosion or vandalism. Most importantly, the system needed to be built under a critical timeline and meet the requirement to transmit high-resolution and HDTV live video feeds.

The extended coverage area and stringent performance specifications were the major factors in selecting wireless product for this project. Link decided to use Firetide's wireless infrastructure mesh network that could meet these requirements and provide reliability. It used 42 Firetide outdoor mesh nodes to form the infrastructure backbone of the project, supporting about 50 outdoor network video surveillance cameras.

In addition to all-wireless infrastructure, the project is also the first in Australia to incorporate Axis HDTV cameras alongside Firetide's wireless infrastructure mesh technology. Link chose Axis rugged outdoors cameras for the installation, including PTZ cameras for their impressive optics package, and fixed HDTV cameras for the ability to transmit video at 30 fps in HD resolution. Milestone VMS supports multiple server applications and unlimited network cameras. The benefit of the Milestone VMS in this project is that although the Council's initial requirement is to support the network cameras, there is an opportunity for the Milestone platform to integrate the Council's existing large population of analog cameras.

“Firetide represents the very best in wireless technology, with its wireless infrastructure mesh optimized for the transmission of surveillance video,” said Alex Baulden, Senior Network Engineer of Link Security Group. “Firetide has the best in class hardware for the project of this size. The security and reliability of communications were critical, and performance we've seen in the field is impressive.” The network is currently ahead of the project delivery schedule, and Link intends to transfer system ownership to the Council within months.

“Being part of Australia's wireless municipal security project is further testament to Firetide's leadership in large-scale wireless video surveillance deployments. An increasing number of municipalities, large and small, find that a wireless infrastructure based on Firetide mesh is imperative for successful public safety networks,” said Bo Larsson, CEO of Firetide. “The fact that our wireless networks can place surveillance cameras in locations without existing network infrastructure is crucial for public safety agencies whether they are looking to revitalize urban areas or prevent and prosecute crime.”

“Where image quality is the key consideration it is important to have full frame rate video streaming so that activities in a scene and fast-moving objects can be easily seen and captured,” said Wai King Wong, Country Manager ANZ of Axis Communications. “Our HDTV cameras are compliant with the SMPTE standards in resolution, frame rate, color fidelity and aspect ratio to ensure that a rich viewing experience with excellent image detail is achieved.”